Rumba

Lovers of slapstick will find Dominique Abel's Rumba a delightful treat: a film full of inventive pratfalls and imaginatively choreographed bits of comic business, as well as scenes featuring the titular dance. But it also has a dose of Gallic melancholy that lends it a bittersweet tone. Dom (Abel) and Fiona (Fiona Gordon) are an odd, stringbean couple who both teach in an elementary school (he's a coach and she's an English teacher), but live to regularly compete in rumba contests…until the pair are seriously injured in a car crash in which Dom loses his memory and Fiona her leg. While Rumba mines their maladies for laughs—Dom keeps adding eggs to a recipe (winding up with a dish that could serve an army), while Fiona later sets their house ablaze when her prosthetic leg catches fire—the film also maintains a poignant undercurrent throughout, accentuated when the amnesiac Dom becomes lost and Fiona presumes that he's dead. Much of Rumba has the feel of old silent comedy, but the bright colors make it look like a highly stylized live-action cartoon. A charming, quirky comedy combining deadpan humor with a dash of sadness, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include deleted scenes (6 min.) and outtakes (11 min.). Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid film.] (F. Swietek)